Archive for August, 2008

My Creative Commons license on Flickr allows for people to reuse and modify my photos as long as they attribute the source back to me. Today my Google Alerts brought it to my attention that someone had done just that. And check it out!

7) Cap off the evening with a leisurely mile walk back with friends, checking out the Ella Fitzgerald tribute, an amusement park, the Curiosities Rock Shop and, of course, the baffling Dance Heads display. Not familiar with Dance Heads? Watch this must-see demo.

Earlier this week, GeekHiker posted about how one the biggest ironies of him being single is that he does “come up with some damn good ideas for dates.” It sparked some thought on my part here in Virginia and I polled a few of my male friends to hear about their great dates. And wowzer! The men I know can really crank out some great ideas.

It also opened my eyes a bit. I never really thought about “date ideas” being a task that fell on the shoulders of the male. Part of it is definitely, I’m female, and I get to just take all that stuff for granted. Suck it, Y Chromosomes!

But at the same time, it may be that I had little cause to think creativity was involved with planning dates. While I listened to elaborate tales involving rented boats, surprise flowers, expensive wines and batteries of candles, I realized– as far as dates go, I don’t have many that deviate from an age-old, tried and true formula. Throughout my dating career, my experiences are dinner-movie, dinner-movie, dinner-movie with the occasional dinner-movie-ice cream (w00t!).

But don’t shed tears, even if you think my dating life was deprived, because you know what? I have been lucky enough to share some PHENOMENAL days of my own with men. PHENOMENAL. Great days, adventurous days, inspiring days that I will remember forever and ever.

They just happened to be totally platonic.

I’m not ready to declare these to be my Top Five Platonic Non-Date Dates. But here are five I remember fondly that come to mind right now on this chilly Thursday night.

One weekend morning, Airaghi asked me if I wanted to go hiking. It was January, so this seemed odd, but I heard him through. We took both dogs, drove on a snowy road, checked out Butt Mountain Overlook and then hiked DOWN to the Cascades. Lo and behold, the falls were almost completely frozen. It was— amazing. The whole hike with all the snow, the trees and the curled up rhododendron was beautiful, but it was the waterfall that stole the show. And this hike taught me an important lesson– hiking in Virginia does not have to be confined to summer and fall.

My friend Leith had season tickets to the Roanoke Symphony. Anytime he didn’t have a date, I got to accompany him! Although this isn’t as adventuresome as hiking, boy, I grew very fond of our outings. Each month, on a Monday night, I got to dress up and put on makeup and meet my companion for an evening of music. It was winter, so the days got dark fast. As I drove to Roanoke, I’d look at the crisp stars that frequent the winter skies, I’d listen to NPR and I’d feel introspective. And nothing compliments an introspective mood better than beautiful, classical music.

Okay, this one has just a little bit of threesome action going on. Ryan Schutt, Jimmie and I drove up and met Mike Miller in Roanoke. Together we went to Smith Mountain Lake and rented a speed boat. It was the weekend before Memorial Day so it was still considered off season, meaning we got a cheap rate! And yet, it was the weekend before Memorial Day, meaning the weather was still great. We all had a splendid time driving the boat and checking out the scenery of the lake. Before that day, I didn’t even know one *could* rent a speedboat. But you can! And it is quite fun!

What would eventually become a yearly tradition, Tony and I met after work to rollerblade the entire Huckleberry Trail. Back then our 11 mile journey was unprecedented for me and quite a feat for my little legs. The route may be the same six years later, but it sure feels a heck of a lot easier nowadays!

I remember a lot of laughter, I remember visiting with Larry at his house half way, but most of all I’ll remember that final half mile. It was getting dark and a thunderstorm was approaching. In a distance, we could see the hazy lights of the mall where our cars were parked. I couldn’t really see Tony except when lightening streaked across the sky– then I could see his skating silhouette ahead of me and at one point a pole I was about to run into. We were able to barely beat the weather to the mall. Tony opened the back of his Explorer and we sat down. As soon as did, the rain hit! With the subtle nagging soreness of accomplishment in my legs, I removed my skates and just absorbed my favorite of nature’s many shows — a summer thunderstorm.

One morning I woke up and signed onto AOL IM with the intent of asking Mike E on a hike. He beat me to it. As soon as I logged on I saw a message from him.

“Hike?”

I was so in. We met at the Easy Chair Coffee Shop to pick up breakfast and then we headed to Catawba with Jimmie and Henry. Our journey began at VA-779. We hiked two and a half hours to Tinker Cliffs. There we shared an orange (which would later become a tradition). We then hiked another three hours to McAfee’s Knob. At one point, I wanted to cry. But before I knew it, we were at the most photographed point on the Appalachian Trail looking at where we were earlier in the day. It was an energizing feeling.

Just 3.5 short miles later, we were reunited with a car at VA-311. At the end of the day, we had finished 13.1 miles of hiking. We promptly drove to Fuddruckers and treated our bodies to a lot of greasy, fatty food. We may have even had ice cream (w00t!). It was a very fulfilling day and when I think of a great hike– this one is one that will always come to mind.

Me pointing to the day’s trek

And so there are five non-date dates that I remember. Most of them weren’t even planned! Just a quick call in the morning was all that was needed to spark an adventure. Some were on weeknights, some were on weekends. And they spanned all four seasons. With speed boating, a good amount of capital was required. But on the other extreme, seeing the Frozen Cascades didn’t even cost a dime.

It seems to me… that regardless of budget, day of the week, or time of year, a great experience can be had.

On Sunday, I met Stacy and his family at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. It was far from my first trip to the grounds. But, it does seem every time I visit, my perspective is just a little bit different and I pick up on different things. In past years, I definitely focused on the mansion or the farm animals. This time around, it was the trees and gardens that caught most of my attention.

Turning leaves

Spider web

The grounds had a lot of old, large trees

From One Generation to AnotherMy maternal grandmother used to volunteer at Mount Vernon, so she brought my siblings and I to the property pretty often. She taught me quite a bit. I, of course, learned about the Washington family and life during that era. But there were little unrelated lessons as well. I still remember my grandmother pointing out and telling me about sycamore trees. I learned what the color “Navy Blue” looked like thanks to her uniform. And Mount Vernon was the very first time (but not the last!) I got shocked by an electric fence. 🙂

This year, I got to witness the process starting over! I got to see cute little Addie enjoy Mount Vernon with her own grandparents. How can you NOT smile?

Addie walks with her Grandpa at Mount Vernon

Addie and Grandpa enjoy the gardens

RusticationThis wasn’t a new discovery about Mount Vernon by any means, but I did want to share one of my favorite parts about the mansion. The outside of the mansion looks like stone and it feels like stone as well. But it is made of pine boards! What Washington did was have the boards beveled to look like masonry. Then when they painted it, they threw sand on the wet paint to add texture. Pretty sneaky! I just love the thriftiness and the creativity with that trick.

I **LOVE** weddings! I really, really do. I enjoy watching the ceremony. I enjoy believing in happy endings. I enjoy witnessing all the touching moments throughout the day. I’m a huge fan of the Father Daughter Dance. And then there are my favorite parts– dancing and cake!

Because of my great affection for weddings, I make a great ringer. Don’t have a date? Ask me! I’ll go! I’ve gone to at least four weddings where I didn’t even know the bride *or* groom and still had a fantastic time. Hey, when you don’t know anyone you can be all the more liberated on the dance floor! 😉

This past weekend, my lovely sister tapped into my services and took me to her boss’s wedding. I’m happy to report that divorce does not dampen my appreciation for a good wedding. I had a splendid time!

One thing that was impressive and unique about this particular event was all the singing. Songs were performed by guests not only at the ceremony, but throughout the reception as well. It was a great showcase of local talent.

So it turns out getting a divorce could easily be a full time job. Putting a house on the market could be a full time job as well. Add that to a real full time job and you are one busy bee (or should I say yellow jacket?).

With all those items on my plate, hiking has been pretty far down on my list of things to do. So it’s been some time since I’ve been out and about. A couple of weekends ago, after an exhausting week and weekend of working on the house, I loaded up the dogs for a run to the dump. They were both so excited to be in the car and I had a somber thought. I used to take my dogs hiking. Now they get to go to the dump.

Honestly, I don’t think the dogs minded all that much. They were just happy for an adventure and the dump does have its fair share of smells. Still, when I descended Harding Road and saw those beautiful, beautiful green mountains, I decided action must be taken!

After I hurled old furniture and a disgusting, outdoor carpet out of my life, I took the dogs to nearby Falls Ridge. I still have to be careful of Henry’s leg, but the beginning of the Falls Ridge trail is a completely flat field. So I figured we would mosey across the field and back, all along monitoring Henry’s leg.

That was the plan.

But it wasn’t Henry who was our limitation. It was me! I got out of the car, walked no more than 50 paces and suddenly laying down sounded awfully good. So I did. I laid on the grass and rested while the dogs sniffed things and enjoyed the fresh air. And then I got up, returned to my car…and went back to work.

It was my shortest hike ever, if you can even apply to word “hike” to this context. But even those few moments were refreshing. And guess what! You can still take pictures when you are laying down. 🙂